Inside Arcade Fire's Not-So-Secret Show

Once they played, nothing else mattered

When posters started popping up in Brooklyn hyping "The Reflektors" and two dates that fell on the final days of the CMJ music festival in New York City, everybody, understandably, freaked. This could only be Arcade Fire, who stenciled the cover art for their forthcoming Reflektor album on buildings not too long ago, and caused a lot of head-scratching (and plenty of elated, relieved sighs for their triumphant return) with a space-disco Saturday Night Live set for the show's season premiere. Reflektor — wonky spelling and all — was on the tip of everyone's tongue as the indie-gone-Grammy band readied for the release of the record, and it all came to a head once "The Reflektors" confirmed a Brooklyn appearance with these posters.

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The fictional band turned fact when tickets went on sale for these Reflektors secret shows, and a number of them became available to Arcade Fire fans through the Reflektor pre-sale as well. The Reflektors/Arcade Fire Brooklyn set wasn't the only secret-show talk in the borough as of late: Saves the Day took to Greenpoint metal bar St. Vitus hours after headlining a sold-out show at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in late September, and a police-escorted frenzy erupted in Bushwick back in August when Jay-Z and Justin Timberlake were rumored to be playing an empty warehouse in the week surrounding their East Coast dates of the Legends of the Summer tour. The truth is that everyone wants to be in the right place at the right time for something like this, and that's why people stampede toward the basement of a dimly lit bar or an unoccupied building holding an equally vacant promise of an epic performance — and that's exactly why tacking on an official ticket to these Arcade Fire gigs during the city's biggest music-festival weekend was a lucrative and debatably problematic pursuit for Arcade Fire and their fans.

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Why? Selling tickets to a secret show takes the fun, beautiful chaos out of the aforementioned stampede, which is an energy not only intrinsic but vital to the success of an event like this. That being said, the mandatory dress code — costumes or formal wear only, if you please — and an exceptional performance given on both nights at 299 Meserole this past weekend redefined expectations for the not-so-secret secret show at large, and it heightened the drama for an already cinematic record release. Win Butler, Arcade Fire's frontman, was audibly grateful for the salivating crowd, crowing about how the band had been feeling "shitty about [them]selves" but that these shows had restored their faith in some capacity: "We were nervous to play New York — everyone's so standoffish! — but you guys are so sweet!" The set list, surprisingly, didn't rip entirely from Reflektor's track list: "Haiti" and "Power Out" from 2004's Funeral were met with rousing approval, as was "Sprawl II" from The Suburbs, the record that garnered them Album of the Year at the 2011 Grammys. Instead of blasting through their catalog into the wee hours of the morning, they unplugged and ran off the stage merely an hour and change after they began, and tapped James Murphy (of LCD Soundsystem fame) to spin as their fans coped by extending a sequin-clad evening with a formidable dance party.

Watch Arcade Fire's opening set at 299 Meserole on Friday:

Whether Arcade Fire's Brooklyn shows were more of a gimmick or an honest attempt at connecting with their fans on an intimate level remains to be seen. The fact that they charged admission stands out as a glaring nod to the commercial requirements an artist of their caliber faces, Grammy clutched in hand and all. But the fact that they coaxed people out to a concrete expanse in Bushwick — in tuxes, wigs, and Super Mario Brothers costumes, no less — and delivered is undeniable. To celebrate a record that hasn't even dropped yet is a feat in and of itself, and one that both inspires and perpetuates the kind of enthusiasm that benefits the band. Yeah, it would've been rad if the DIY ethos and punk tendency to blast an unconventional place to smithereens had happened with The Reflektors — sorry, Arcade Fire — this weekend. It would also be unrealistic, but one can only hope that other artists attempt to break the mold (and new ground) when it comes to getting their music into the hands of rapt and waiting listeners standing on unsuspecting streets.